Give Your Stuff Away on the New Startup Givmo

Like so many people, you are probably doing a little spring cleaning this time of year. And like so many, you are probably wondering what to do with all your old junk. That is where Givmo comes into p...
Give Your Stuff Away on the New Startup Givmo
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  • Like so many people, you are probably doing a little spring cleaning this time of year. And like so many, you are probably wondering what to do with all your old junk.

    That is where Givmo comes into play. Givmo is like Goodwill for the digital age. Just log onto their site, post pictures of the junk you want to give way, and the stuff you no longer have use for goes to a good home.

    The startup was introduced by software engineer Dustin Byrne, who moved from job to job after college and never knew what to do with the stuff he never used. He introduced Givmo last year as a way to remedy the situation.

    Here is an example of how it works: You buy a new pair of swell slacks. You go on a diet and now longer fit into said slacks. What do you do? You barely wore the pants before your diet, so they’re like brand new. You don’t want to be wasteful and throw away new slacks. Selling them on eBay is a hassle, and you probably won’t get much for worn items anyway.

    So you post them on Givmo. Someone sees the slacks you don’t want, and decides he’d put them to good use. The buyer pays for shipping. A prepaid label is printed on your computer, and you send the item off with the morning mail.

    You get rid of the stuff you don’t need, someone else gets something they do need at low cost. Givmo makes money from a small commission (less than a dollar) and discounts they get from UPS on shipping. They give a dollar to charity. Overflowing landfills get one less piece of junk. It’s socially responsible ecommerce, and everybody wins.

    Givmo has been somewhat slow to take off, Byrne said via Mashable. “It’s not enough to pay the bills on its own, but hopefully with volume it will get there.”

    After checking out Givmo, I’ve noticed that the shipping is steep according to their calculator (about $12 to $14 for almost every item on there, including a collectible PEZ dispenser at the higher end of that scale.) I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here. If Givmo only takes a dollar and a dollar goes to charity, it still should not cost $12 dollars to ship a pez dispenser within the U.S. By comparison, a 16 lbs. bowling ball on the site costs about $15 to ship. I’m not sure if this is a shipping calculator malfunction or the actual cost, but be careful if you decide you want something. Make sure the item is even worth the shipping cost.

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